萌えなヤンキーをちょうだいhttps://yankeebanchou.wordpress.com
otome games etc ♪Sun, 15 Sep 2019 00:09:49 +0000en
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[Unboxing] Toraware no Palm -Collectors Edition-https://yankeebanchou.wordpress.com/2019/09/15/unboxing-toraware-no-palm-collectors-edition/
https://yankeebanchou.wordpress.com/2019/09/15/unboxing-toraware-no-palm-collectors-edition/#respondSun, 15 Sep 2019 00:09:49 +0000http://yankeebanchou.wordpress.com/?p=40879Yeah I caved in and bought the collectors edition. I wonder how much money have I donated to Capcoms cause of milking every franchise they have But at least on the bright side I didn’t fork out 18,000 yen for the Capcom Limited Collectors Edition (though this collectors edition sent me back maybe around 130 Australian dollary doos because of Australian tax and weak currency conversion rate).

Anyway let’s take a closer look at the collectors edition shall we?

When I got it out of the package I couldn’t believe how big it was. I guess Capcom really goes ham with their collectors editions.

For comparison sake, here’s how big the box is compared to a limited edition of an inferior game:

It’s maybe four times as big as the average limited edition otome game box? Though now it’s gonna stick out like a sore thumb in my otoge limited edition collection

So what little goodies are kept inside this big, humongous box?

It’s another box! It’s quite plain compared to the outer box but it’s the main course when it comes to what’s inside of it.

First up we got the cleaner cloth that has floral design on opposite corners, the anemone design represents Haruto and the sunflower design represents Aoi. It’s not exactly a microfiber cloth, which is a shame because they’re usually handy of catching dust but it’s a cleaner cloth nevertheless.

Next up is the canvas board that has the same illustration as the collector’s edition cover. Its obviously made out of canvas but the colours do look a bit washed out compared to the box cover, but still a lovely addition to display Chisato Miwa’s gorgeous illustration anywhere.

Also got chibi acrylic standees of Haruto and Aoi and finally you get the physical copy of Toraware no Palm Deluxe Edition that has all the DLC in it.

—Closer look of Haruto and Aoi standees plus the floral designs on the cleaner cloth

When you open up the game case you’ll find a small leaflet advertising Toraware no Palm -Refrain- for the mobile as well as a small manual showing the controls (something I didn’t expect to see in game cases these days). They also used an old illustration used for promotional material for the other side of the game cover (I dunno if it’s a reversible game cover but I reversed it anyway so y’all can get a better look of it).

And that’s about it for the collectors edition. Was it worth it? Well probably for die-hard fans of Toraware no Palm it’s worth it for sentimental sake. Though I’m sure for super die-hard fans they would’ve bought the expensive Capcom limited Collectors edition that has more goodies in it. Though it may be little goodies in this one to justify the price but at least it’s not a mahjong set that you will never use *looks at my Fate/Extella Link limited edition with mahjong set that’s collecting dust with regret*. Don’t ask me about the story behind that purchase decision.

I’ll attempt to write a quick thought review of how the Nintendo Switch port of Toraware no Palm holds up, but until then…

Heshikiri Hasebe

Note: I have color corrected the images as the lighting in my room isn’t right for peak figure photoshoots (I’ll try to improve on this in the future). So keep in mind that colors may not be accurate in the photos compared to the figure in real life.

I had teased about doing a full review of this figure in my Japan Trip Haul post and now I’ve finally gotten around to making it (only because I don’t have any topics to write about at the moment, so this is just my trump card).

I picked up this Hasebe figure during my trip to Japan in a kbooks store for an all right price of 2,160 yen. He’s a prize figure that you could get from arcade machines but since his release he’s been retired from being a prize in arcades, so you’ll be lucky to see him being sold in stores.

This Hasebe figure is a noodle stopper, which somewhat became a thing now? There’s a line of noodle stoppers from all kinds of series made by FuRyu, a company that specialises in making prize and kuji figures. He’s not exactly up to scale but he isn’t that small either. He’s a bit larger than a palmate and weighty enough to be a paper weight or… a noodle stopper (as he should be).

Though I don’t have any plans on putting him on top of my instant noodles any time soon considering PVC figures are prone to deforming in heat, like this infamous melting Sonico figure (ironic considering that Sonico figure is also a noodle stopper figure). Though maybe sitting on top of a hot noodle cup for 2 to 5 minutes doesn’t affect PVC figures…? Either way I’m not taking any chances.

Even though I don’t use this Hasebe for his designated function (of stopping noodle lids from popping up), he does make a nice addition to my collection and good enough to display. He comes with his sword which you can place in front of him or just about anywhere.

It looks exactly like the one in-game, though a shame that upon further inspection the paint job is a little sloppy. Hasebe’s main body paint job is pretty basic, though could be a bit neater, though that is kinda expected when you buying a mass produced product. There are places like his hair that looks like the paint either chipped off or was rubbed off leaving white spots on his hair as you can see below…

His face is a bit strange depending on the angle. Sometimes his face looks a bit too thin or his eyes are too close together. His expression is definitely hard to pin down, unsure if he’s smiling or just in a neutral expression. Maybe its the placement of his hair that’s making his face looks off, but it’s mostly his eyes that makes him look strange. At certain angles his face looks goofy and almost bootleg, but if you look at him straight on he looks somewhat passable.

This angle is kinda unflattering, making him look dead-eyed. Though maybe it’s just me being picky.

His sculpt is all right, nothing fancy but still captures the esscence and character of Hasebe (patiently waiting for his master to come back after not playing Tourabu for 6+ months). I would like to see an alternative version of the same pose but with his Kiwame version and maybe with a better expression, though I don’t think FuRyu or Touken Ranbu is planning on making that any time soon.

Anyway, here’s a showcase of his good angles and some details of his sculpt.

His little tooshie and feets that are viewable between the little flaps of his coat is prolly one of my fav details about this figure.

—Final Thoughts

I’d say its an all right figure, though that might be my bias considering I like Hasebe but considering some of his scale figures aren’t really my cup of tea (most of them is just him standing, nothing neat about it) I’m really happy I purchased this one, especially when there’s not a lot of opportunities to find this figure in stores. Though I have a feeling that this figure I bought isn’t new, considering the chips in paint on his hair and some other marks… then again maybe those marks and chips happened during the production line for this figure.

I would’ve preferred for a better expression or at least face but all in all it’s a nice figure. It didn’t come with a base like most figures do so I just have him placed on top of my rotating turn table. He just spins… 24/7. Non-stop. Though probably for the best.

Enjoy a showcase of Hasebe the Noodle Stopper with Sims 1 music playing in the background.

Thanks for reading!

]]>https://yankeebanchou.wordpress.com/2019/09/09/figures-statues-heshikiri-hasebe-noodle-stopper-touken-ranbu/feed/0IMG_0764otomebunnyBlog Update 2019 – Slowing downhttps://yankeebanchou.wordpress.com/2019/09/04/blog-update-2019-slowing-down/
https://yankeebanchou.wordpress.com/2019/09/04/blog-update-2019-slowing-down/#commentsWed, 04 Sep 2019 05:16:00 +0000http://yankeebanchou.wordpress.com/?p=40814Last month a couple of stuff happened, first off I was preoccupied mostly by Fire Emblem Three Houses. To say that it took a lot of my time away is an understatement. It took all my time away lol (thanks Dimitri Fireemblem).

But mostly been busy getting that bread full time. I dunno if most of you know but I don’t earn anything from blogging (other than the satisfaction of laying out my opinion of a shitty anime lol) and having an pricey hobby like playing games, collecting figures etc ain’t easy to keep up. So am getting that bread… though it means I won’t have much time to write or play games to review (funny considering I wanna play more games but got no time now lol).

I could stop my blog entirely but I really do enjoy writing posts, especially ones where people can benefit from my help. So I’ll do my best to prioritse my weekends on writing up posts and scheduling them as to spread them out evenly. Though I cannot guarantee that I’ll be able to post often, especially when I take such a long time writing review posts… Hopefully things will work out.

I also hope I can get around to writing posts about announcements (be it games etc) that may interest me greatly or just a little, even if they’re shorter than my usual posts. Though I might just fall back to my usual pattern of writing big posts of stuff that interest me.

I think that’s about it for now. I know I don’t have that big of a presence compared to other otome blogs so maybe my lack of posts will go unnoticed especially when I usually don’t blog that much lately.

Amendment:I can’t believe I forgot another Voltage game got ported to the Switch last month. Honestly some of these websites I follow seem to forget about it and then I forget to add it.

Anyway, “Koi Shiteshimatta Hoshi no Ouji” or its English title “Star-Crossed Myth” is a Voltage game that released on August 28th, with a cast of 12 ikemen who are gods that represent each star sign (the cast is split between two separate games that released on the same day). It has no voice acting and is a port of a mobile game, it also has English text, check it out in your nearest Nintendo eShop!

✦

This month may very well mark the last PS Vita otome game to be released in this life time (something I find myself saying a lot of times this month until a company announces a PS Vita port out of the blue again). It is also the month where the Nintendo Switch Lite releases on September 20th (I’m guessing its a worldwide release).

The Nintendo Switch Lite is a more portable version of the Switch where it is lighter, smaller, about 100 dollars cheaper, has an improved battery life compared to the first Switch models and comes in many full body colours. The only downside is that the joy-cons/controllers cannot be removed like the original Switch so you can share a controller between friends and family, no HD rumble or IR motion camera found on the right joy-con and it cannot go into tabletop mode nor TV/docked mode. It is said to be compatible to all current Nintendo Switch games (though I dunno about “1-2-Switch” considered it focused on the use of the joy-cons).

All in all it’s good timing for otome gamers that the Nintendo Switch Lite is releasing soon considering the library for otome games on the Switch has grown immensely this past year and a fair amount of the classic otome games have already been ported or will soon be ported. It’s more portable for those who miss playing otome games on their PS Vita but wish for an upgraded screen/experience as well as being cheap.

Otomate had a special campaign where upon preordering a Switch (or Switch Lite) bundle with Hakuouki Shinkai Tsukikage no Shou you’ll get a bonus present of a fan and bromide.

Gotta milk Hakuouki for all its worth, eh?

In similar news, expected to come out at around the same time as the Nintendo Switch Lite release is the new Nintendo Switch model. Same price as the first Nintendo Switch model except different packaging and longer battery life, lasting longer than both the Lite and original model with an extended battery life of 4.5 hours to 9 hours in portable mode depending on the game. You can read more about it in this IGN article. Hopefully the newer models will replace the older models in terms of stock sold on shelves because that battery life is much needed for the Switch I kinda feel like a fool for buying the original model seeing that there’s gonna be an improved model in the market soon.

On a different note: Seems like I was right in my last Monthly Overview post for August, I predicted that Diabolik Lovers GRAND Edition will be set for November release and surprise, surprise. It is.

Onto this months games rundown:

Gunka wo Haita Neko is a port to the PS Vita of a PC game that released same time last year. Set in a world where people with cat ears and tails live and “humans” are thought of as Gods, the heroine Tama, a princess of the Republic, prepares for her marriage to her cousin. As the fated day seems to go smoothly, a rare human boy falls from the sky setting things into motion as Empire ships from a distant land come to disturb the peace.

Amnesia for Nintendo Switch is a port to the Nintendo Switch of a PSP game, which was also ported to the PS Vita. I’m sure you all have already heard of Amnesia, played one of the games (in English or Japanese) or watched the anime so I guess there’s no use for me to introduce it. But just for the sake of it, basically you play as an unnamed heroine who has seem to lost her memory after an incident and has to piece together everything about herself and the people around her while keeping her amnesia as a secret. Also there’s some kind of fairy boy who resides inside her mind and basically acts as her only braincell.

Jakou no Lyla~Trap of Musk~ is a port to the Nintendo Switch of 3 PC games rolled into one Switch cartridge. Jakou no Lyla is the last entry to triAngle Project, a project that produced games focusing on “love triangles”. The heroine Shirien is a spy for hire while working as a dancer for her adopted father’s store (who is also into the spy business). Shirien uses her feminine wiles and alluring henna tattoos when seducing and manipulating men to her will. Switch added content includes bonus event based on the drama CD bonus from the PC version plus new CG, 6 new CGs not seen in the PC game, special content such as scenarios seen through the guy’s POV, short stories and letters from characters, animated sprites with blinking and mouth flaps and joy-con rumble whenever characters touch such as when being hugged.

Hakuouki Shinkai Tsukikage no Shou is a new Hakuouki game that kinda acts like a fandisc to the Shinkai series (the Shinkai series being kinda like a reboot but adding new routes/characters and adding routes for a couple of existing characters). These fandiscs are split in two because of how many guys there are to romance in the Hakuouki series. Tsukikage no Shou includes routes such as: Hijikata, Okita, Sannan, Yamazaki, Iba and Kazama.

That’s about it. I’ll prolly buy Jakou no Lyla switch port bc I can’t be bothered sitting at my computer to play otome games and its much easier just to lay around and play. But I won’t buy the limited edition lol (tho the illustration for it looks nice).

Amendment: Apparently last month’s R18 PC game “Monochrome Wizard” was supposed to release on the 31st of July but was delayed to 4th of August. Though I’m not gonna add it to the line up considering I already talked about it in July’s overview lol.

Also, good news everyone. My fever dream of Diabolik Lovers Grand Edition being announced to be released on the Switch was not a fever dream at all, it was just harsh reality. So you heard it hear first folks, the PS4 port that combines both the original Diabolik Lovers and its sequel MORE,BLOOD will be ported to the Switch. Release date is pending but my guess is some time this year. November is looking a bit empty in terms of releases so hopefully it’ll be under y’alls Christmas tree this year.

So what have I been doing on my ass all day, for the past couple of weeks not uploading posts you ask? Well good question because I’ve been wasting my days playing Fire Emblem Three Houses and god, is it good. I won’t do a review of it just yet as I haven’t finished my first route but let’s just say it does what Fire Emblem Fates failed to do.

I had started writing a post about my thoughts on Otome Yusha’s renewal now that I’ve played it but yeah, my ass was swept away by Three Houses. Sorry about that. Also double sorry for this post being extra, extra late. A lot went down this month and hopefully I’ll explain in a separate post.

Anyway, even though most of the games listed above have already released by now, I’ll still do a little run down on each game.

Katakoi Contrast -collection of branch- is a port to the Nintendo Switch of 3 PC games rolled into one Switch cartridge. It is one of three games in a themed game project series focusing on “love triangles”. Katakoi is rather vanilla compared to the other two (one that focuses on sisters who have a unique ability to improve another’s talent but at the cost of the person being infatuated with the heroines, and the other game has a heroine that is a spy that seduces her targets). It mainly focuses on a high school setting and explores love triangles between classmates, upperclassmen and underclassmen as well as a teacher and transfer student. Switch version additional content includes new CGs, after stories, additional story based on the drama CD bonus of the original PC game, animated eyes and mouth for character sprites and finally the use of the Nintendo Switch’s Joy-con’s vibration motors will activate whenever characters touch, such as being hugged.

Kannagi no Mori Satsukiame Tsuzuri – is a port to the PS Vita of 2 PC games rolled into one Vita cartridge. The story focuses on Mizuki Kinami, the protagonist, who was able to see things others couldn’t ever since she was young. On rainy nights it is said that the dead will come back and it just so happens on a rainy night that she caught a glimpse of her mother on the street who passed away 3 days ago. Additions to the PS Vita version include bonus scenarios and new CGs.

Omega Vampire is a port to the Nintendo Switch of an R18 BL PC game. Seeing that the original game was R18, the Switch port will be toned down to fit a Cero D rating (an equivalent to an MA15+ or R rating, aka almost borderline X rated). As the title of the game suggests, it takes place in the “omegaverse”, which is a bit too long to explain but let’s just say mpregnancy is possible in this universe and things like people going into heat like animals is also a thing. The protagonist Keiichi Moriya whose parents (both dads) were killed by vampires, dies in a traffic accident until he was given a drug that revived him. The side effect however changed him from a beta to an omega (basically a bottom). Expect a lot of vampires, werewolves and (not)guaranteed mpreg maybe I dunno.

Brothers Conflict Precious Baby for Nintendo Switch is a port to the Nintendo Switch of another port that was on the PS Vita under the same name that combined two PSP games into one cartridge. If you aren’t aware of this game through its anime that aired a couple years back, basically the game focuses on Ema whose father remarries to a lady who has about 13 sons whomst soon become her step-brothers. Ema tries to adjust to this new family lifestyle after being an only child for so long, though can they all really get along? Spoiler: this is an otome so obviously things are gonna get romantic

Toraware no Palm is a port to the Nintendo Switch of a mobile game under the same name. The mobile game first launched with one character episode “Haruto” and after Haruto’s episodes finished releasing, character episode “Aoi” was added into the game. I’ve only finished Haruto’s episodes so am unsure about Aoi’s but basically you play as a self-insert that tries to help these boys get their memories back because you may or may not be blackmailed into doing it. The physical Switch game will include most, if not all, of the paid DLC that released in the mobile version. Digital version let’s you choose if you want just the base game or base game plus one or both of the DLC packs. It will also support both simplified Chinese and traditional Chinese text. No word on an English localisation/translation though.

That was it for this month. All of these games already released…. but maybe it’s not too late to get a copy of any of this month’s games that interested you.

Toraware no Palm will be ported to the Nintendo Switch on 30th August 2019, exactly 3 years after it was released on mobile devices back in August 2016. It can be played in both docked mode (also known as TV mode) as well as portable mode on the Switch. It will support both Japanese and Chinese text, no word on any English localisation.

If you would like to read more about Toraware no Palm click here. I have also written a review of the prologue and episode 1 of Haruto’s episode which you can read here.

From here on out I will do my best to translate information about the Switch port using the information provided from the official website. Most of the images used in this post will have been taken from that site as well.

TV Mode

In TV mode you can see your man on the big screen. Depending on the size of your TV you can enjoy seeing him up close and personal.

During TV mode and tabletop mode you can use either the Joy-Con and Nintendo Switch Pro Controller. Using the left stick of the controller you can move the cursor and in some scenes you can also use the gyro function to interact with him.

There will also be shortcuts available according to the scene. We have optimised it so you can play on the Nintendo Switch stress-free.

＊In tabletop mode and portable mode, touch operation is also possible

Portable Mode

In portable mode, if you turn your Nintendo Switch vertically you can play as if you were playing on a smartphone with the touch screen. You can also play using touch and gyro functions in this mode.

＊You can also play with the Joy-Cons removed

＊In portable mode you can also enjoy playing it horizontally

Skinship with your bro…

You can interact with him through the glass whenever the icon in the bottom-left hand corner appears.

Use the icon in the bottom-left hand corner as a guide on how to interact with him.

When using the controller, in some scenes use the controller to resemble the glass between you where you can touch foreheads or even kiss.

Express your feelings through the cursor…

When using the controller, you can move the cursor to select the dialogue you want.

When choices are displayed the cursor will automatically select the top dialogue choice for your convenience.

Play comfortably using the settings and convenient shortcuts!!

In the settings you can choose which screen mode you prefer to suit your play style (choose between vertical or horizontal screen mode).

In addition in the language setting, despite character voices being exclusively in Japanese, the text can be either Japanese or Chinese (Traditional Chinese or Simplified Chinese).

There are also handy shortcuts when using the controller.

Shortcuts when you want to retrieve “topics” that pop up during your monitoring of him, when you want to look at his messages immediately when you’re out, when you want to select topics and dialogue choices quickly when messaging him, etc. is conveniently at your fingertips.

View every inch of the beautiful illustrations with the big screen!!

Even though you could magnify the beautiful illustrations gained from the story to a certain degree in the mobile version, with this port you can appreciate the finer details when in TV mode.

You can freely expand certain points of the illustration. Of course, full view is also possible.

Also included in this port are concept art, magazine covers, things drawn for novelty and other valuable illustrations that are available to viewed in the “art gallery” section of the game.

Nintendo Switch Port Product Information

The port includes both Haruto’s and Aoi’s episodes rolled into one game. Package versions include the “Deluxe Edition” which includes all content and “Collectors Edition” a quite luxurious version with original goods, making 2 editions in total. There is also the download version where you can purchase the edition and 2 additional content packs of your choice.

Here’s the edition guide as shown on the website.

＊To use the download version of “Additional Content Pack A” and/or “Additional Content Pack B” you must have the separately sold base game “Toraware no Palm”

＊The contents of the game is the same as the mobile version of “Toraware no Palm”. It does not include the “VR Visitation” content.

A quick explanation of what is the contents of the base game and additional content packs.

Contents of the base game includes all the episodes for both Haruto and Aoi plus extension time on every visitation (which was paid DLC on the mobile version) as well as memorial visitations, certain phone call events and a small handful of “dream app” accessories.

Contents of the additional content packs includes extra content that was added after the episodes of each guy finished releasing for the mobile version and are split in half between the two packs so pick your poison if you plan to purchase it separately.

① Shoulder Bag (18cm x 28cm) | Can be used as a shoulder bag or clutch

② Memorial Soundtrack

③ Big Acrylic Stand Haruto (18cm)

④ Big Acrylic Stand Aoi (18cm)

⑤ Handwritten Message from Haruto (10cm x 14.8cm)

⑥ Handwritten Message from Aoi (10cm x 14.8cm)

—Overall Thoughts

I think its nice that they’re porting Toraware no Palm to the Nintendo Switch and that they’re giving us a chance to purchase a physical version so we don’t have to worry about a future where Toraware no Palm is no longer able to get from an app store in this world of digital technology.

Though makes me wish I had future vision so I didn’t have to pay big money just to have extended time with Haruto during visitation when there’s an edition that practically gives you all the extra paid stuff for an okay price (I dunno about calling it cheap but cheaper than buying every single thing on day one for the mobile version).

I may buy this port, its been like 3 years since I finished Haruto’s episode and I still haven’t finished Aoi’s so it might be worth it to play it again. Maybe this time I’ll get the wedding ending with Haruto (least likely). I honestly don’t understand how the controller works when you go into skinship mode with the guys… like the explanation on the website is so vague and so was the promotional video. Do you just raise up your controller? Or something. I guess seeing is believing.

I honestly hope they also port Toraware no Palm Refrain in the future because I can’t be bothered buying all that extra content. Capcom just really loves wringing out every single cent from their customers huh. Like that e-capcom limited edition goods set… oof.

Anyway I hope that this post informative to you all!

Thanks for reading.

]]>https://yankeebanchou.wordpress.com/2019/07/17/otome-watch-toraware-no-palm-for-the-nintendo-switch-overview/feed/0021otomebunny[Goods] Japan Trip Haulhttps://yankeebanchou.wordpress.com/2019/07/13/goods-japan-trip-haul/
https://yankeebanchou.wordpress.com/2019/07/13/goods-japan-trip-haul/#commentsSat, 13 Jul 2019 02:59:13 +0000http://yankeebanchou.wordpress.com/?p=40670It’s not much (especially when I was holding myself back because of the prices) but here’s a post on the spoils I got during my trip in Japan.

Got him for about 2,160 yen @ Kbooks, a fair price especially when I couldn’t find him elsewhere.

He’s a prize figure and is supposed to be placed on top of your noodles to stop the lid from popping up when steam comes up. Though most PVC figures don’t handle heat too well so I’m just going to display him.

He’s also a prize figure. Usually most EXQ figures are prizes in UFO catches at Sega game centres/arcades. If you put him together with the base he stands almost as tall as a 1/8 scaled figure. Kinda wished I got Gawain’s EXQ figure as well.

Got the body for about 1,852 and the hand parts for 926 yen @ Kotobukiya.

I got it for the suggested retail price. I think Volks Hobby Paradise asked for either the same price or something a little higher in price.

Nendoroid dolls are basically cu-poche dolls, you can dress them up in doll clothes (hand-made or store bought) and attach different heads and hands. archtype Boy doesn’t come with a head so you could buy it separately or put on the head of your fav nendoroid boy on it and play dress up (though because of the skin tone of my doll, I can’t put a temporary head on it just yet).

I won’t exactly do a review of this one…yet.

—Battery Powered Turntable

Not exactly a DJ’s turntable but it does help display some of your favourite figures and nendoroids. Been meaning to get one just to use it in a display cabinet one day (which I eventually got after the trip when I saw Ikea discounted their display cabinet lol). It has a permanent small plate of 80mm in diameter (not big enough for my nendoroid stand for Ieyasu ) and a bigger plate of 120mm in diameter more suitable for medium sized figures and other objects.

I got it for 1,400 yen @ Volks Hobby Paradise. I actually wanted one from amiami as I know their prices are cheaper but the store I went to didn’t seem to have one in stock (I didn’t even know there was another store in Akihabara so I never checked the other one). Looking at amiami’s online store it seems like the wanted wasn’t there anymore but there is this one that has a reflective surface, can change the direction of rotation and almost has the same diameter as the big plate on the turntable I’ve got.

It takes on one AA battery and can be a little noisy sometimes. The sound of the cogs turning at the base of it is kinda noticeable in a silent room. But it still does a good job of rotating your figures. I’m unsure if you can change which way it rotates as there is only an on and off button. It also comes in a white colour (I spent a good 10 minutes or so trying to decide which colour would be best in a display cabinet and I still left wondering if it was a good idea to choose the black one )

—Smaller Haul

The smaller haul includes keychains, a shrine charm and a badge. The shrine charm is from Ueno Park Shrine, the design is an embroided camellia and is supposed to be my birth month’s flower according to the shrine. There was a sign showing that each flower had a meaning, though I forgot what mine was Most of them had to do with love though. The rabbit bell key charm came from Nijo Castle in Kyoto.

First up my Cu Chulainn key charms. Been in love with this dog boyo since watching Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works. He gets a lot of shit because he keeps dying in almost every route that it has become an ongoing gag in other series, but he’s pretty cool. Though these charms ain’t cheap considering they’re around 800 yen each, the same price as my Gil figure But when I saw Gudaguda styled Cu with his spear pierced through his chest I knew I had to get it (and Alter Cu, the charm on the left, is pretty hot ). The badge is also a Cu variant, Caster Cu. So I got almost one merch for every Cu (except for prototype Cu).

This acrylic charm I got from a blind box. I spent a good while feeling out every other packet trying to guess which one was the Cu charm but turns out I got yorokobe shounen’d by Kirei here.

Funny thing is, he’s supposed to be the bonus/secret acrylic charm from the blind box. So I got lucky…. I guess?

Despite no longer being a fan of Enstars, I could never pass the opportunity to get a bkub illustrated ADONIS FANTASY key charm. It was a second hand charm but thankfully it wasn’t too expensive, about 400 yen (100 yen more than a 300 yen gacha key charm).

The racing Miku charm I got from the gachapon outside of the pop up store because I’m too cheap. According to the mini pamphlet from inside the gacha ball this Miku is the 2017 Racing Miku design. I also noticed that because parts of the charm was semi-transparent light can go through it. I don’t know if illuminating the charm makes it cursed or blessed looking but it’s pretty neat.

He’s design like a maneki-neko (beckoning cat) and apparently his head bobbles (but not that much).

The characters on his gold coin says 豪運, though not exactly sure how that translates (the last character usually means luck but the first one I haven’t seen before)

Got Sakyo from an A3 gachapon outside of SEGA GiGO Ikebukuro. Considering half of the key charms in the gachapon where characters from my fav troupe (autumn troupe represent) I felt good about my odds.

This little pikachu figure? was from a Pokemon Lets Go! themed gachapon. I think there were some Eevee ones as well inside the gachapon and most of them had hats or other apparel on. Apparently their main use is to place it on the edge of your cup so they can hang around while you drink? or something like that. Though I tried to put it on my glass and it just wouldn’t stay on it. Eventually I put it on my keyboard with blu tack (as seen in the picture above) and even then it still fell off, so now sometimes it rests on my escape key but usually falls off as well Why can’t you stay put, pikachu.

—Video games

I only got one because I was too picky with the prices and I didn’t know the best places to go to for otome games. It’s a preowned limited edition of Vairable Barricade at the price of 4,580 yen–but I was fooled, turns out that’s the price before tax. It was actually 4,900+ yen. I saw the same limited edition at another place being sold for maybe 5,000+ yen so I thought it was a good deal.

Then I realised why it was so cheap.

The limited edition of Variable Barricade is not worth it really. You know me, I usually buy limited editions of Otomate’s games to check out stuff like behind the scenes artwork and sketches + rough designs of characters in the booklet. Variable Barricade’s limited edition booklet is nothing but pages and pages of short stories, each story covers one month of 12 months. Each short story comes with an illustration, but not a new illustration its illustrations already shared on the official twitter and the website. There’s even a page dedicated to all the illustrations on the website

So the booklet was nothing but short stories galore plus a very rough two page illustration.

It even seems like the previous owner of this didn’t even open the packaging of the limited editon drama CD either

Honest to say it was a disappointing limited edition, especially when it is Otomate’s last PS Vita game… I should’ve just bought the normal edition.

That’s all for my Japan trip haul. It’s not much but I think I found some bargains when it came to a few figures. Funny thing is I still have a good amount of Japanese money with me right now so I guess I’ll just save them for the next trip.

Thanks for reading!

]]>https://yankeebanchou.wordpress.com/2019/07/13/goods-japan-trip-haul/feed/1otomebunnyMy First Trip to Japan (A belated diary)https://yankeebanchou.wordpress.com/2019/07/12/my-first-trip-to-japan-a-belated-diary/
https://yankeebanchou.wordpress.com/2019/07/12/my-first-trip-to-japan-a-belated-diary/#commentsFri, 12 Jul 2019 04:26:27 +0000http://yankeebanchou.wordpress.com/?p=40477During May through to late June I was overseas visiting family and nicely enough we managed to make room for a little side trip to Japan (with me stuck with the job of planning the trip of course lol).

It was a short trip of “7 days” (I put this lightly because half a day was spent travelling to Japan and the last day was mostly dedicated to getting back to Tokyo on time to catch our plane) where I tried and failed to squeeze in everything I wanted to see in Japan. I’ve gained some experience from my mistakes so hopefully my belated diary post about my trip will help any of you with your future plans to Japan.

Warning: This post is going to be a long one because I love writing things in excruciating detail.

Note: If a link has the emoji next to it, it means that I linked the location in google maps.

—Day 1—

One week before our flight to overseas I got some JR passes because we’ll be using the Shinkansen and the Narita Express, so it’s convenient to have a JR pass to make reservations (because apparently its free to make a seat reservation if you have the pass?).

Anyway as soon as we got out of customs/security I was completely lost in trying to find the JR Ticket office to exchange my “coupon” I got in my home country for a real JR Pass. I had to gather up all my courage to ask the lady at the information desk for directions You’ll find that the people working at the airport are very helpful and friendly.

The people who work at the JR Ticket offices are also very helpful, especially when helping you reserve a seat on the Narita Express or Shinkansen, asking what your stop is and finding you a train that’s convenient to you. I took the Narita Express, but you can take other modes of transport like the Keisei Skyliner, the Limousine Bus (usually drops you off and picks you up at certain hotels) and a regular/local train. However it’s not recommended to take a taxi from Narita Airport to the inner city of Tokyo because they’re expensive as hell considering the huge distance between the two places.

—View from Narita Express before entering the city

When I got to Ikebukuro station I was hit with huge anxiety trying to find the right exit. It was even stressful when at the time I had no SIM card or data to access a map app. I’m use to travelling around by train but lawd… navigating the train stations of Tokyo is anxiety inducing especially with Ikebukuro’s station interior being completely white and everything looks the same so I sometimes find myself going in circles or having no idea where I’m going. So it’s kinda best to ask people around, possibly someone who doesn’t look busy.

Anyway we eventually got out of the station and found our way to the hotel. Considering we were tired from the trip and being stressed we decided to not do much for the day and just go look for some place to eat…. which was a big missteak because we all have different tastes and were craving completely different dishes We eventually just went to an underground yakitori place–which is not the best place to go for dinner and is a place where people can smoke–that had some cheap (and good) chicken skewers and cute tapioca milk tea drinks despite its exterior of being a place for people to get drunk.

We later stopped at a 7-Eleven and god…. I could just live off 7-Eleven food in Japan because they got some good selections to choose from. I picked up some pudding just to see it jiggle and damn does it jiggle.

It was tasty btw.

Bonus: Here are some images from the Godzilla pop-up store inside Ikebukuro station to promote the new movie “Godzilla: King of the Monsters”.

I really wanted the Godzilla themed sukajan but alas… it was 38,000 yen (about US$349 or AU$500). It was cool though.

—Day 2—

Day 2 didn’t start off good. My sister caught a cold from other tourists during our other trip before we went to Japan and it seems that my mum caught it too while I was the only strong one in the party (I guess my strong will to persevere to see all the places I wanted to go to kept me from catching the cold?). I had planned a lot for the day but it turns out that my plans were pretty bad because I tried to fit in 3 activities in one day without thinking that everyone would be able to keep up haha.

We left the hotel at 11am and spent the rest of the day looking all over the place for belts for my fam…. a whole dang day But at least we spent that day looking around Harajuku.

Location: Harajuku

If I hadn’t turned around after using the pedestrian crossing I wouldn’t have noticed how cute and quaint the exterior Harajuku station is. We only explored a small portion of Omotesando (I think that’s where we were), but it’s a very chic place that has a lot of stuff ranging from cosmetics, bath bombs, scented bubble bath liquid and some cafes. Not to mention a good handful of clothing stores.

My main mission of the day was to find the mythical “Sailor Moon Store” my sister was talking about. Thanks to google maps I was led to where it was and apparently it’s part of a bigger building called ”Laforet“.

There are two entrances for this building, one is located facing across Tokyu Plaza and the other entrance is hidden in a small street and has this nice aesthetic at the front. I can’t remember how many levels are in this building but it’s got “half floors”, like there is a Floor 1 as well as a Floor B0.5 and a floor 1.5. If you want to use the elevator to go to a .5 floor you have to take it on a similar .5 floor. So if you’re on Floor 2 and want to go to floor B0.5 you’ll have to go down a small flight of stairs and catch the elevator on floor 1.5 to go down B0.5… kinda a hassle considering I just end up going down all the flights of stairs to go down to 0.5 anyway lol.

Anyway the reason why I talk a lot about floor B0.5 is because the Sailor Moon Store is there. There are actually two sailor moon stores on that level, one store for apparel which included sailor moon themed yukata and sailor suits (as well as a gacha) and the other store across from it is where all the merch is sold. I don’t have any pictures because most of the stores in Laforet kindly tell you not to take any photos so no pictures from me. The merch store has a couple of stuff ranging from hard candy, cookies, pens, figmas, plushies and keychains. There were these keychains that I was eyeing at that were really cute, the theme of the keychains was based on desserts and each dessert is based on a sailor scout motif. I can’t remember what Jupiter’s was but I really wanted to get it until I looked at the price (maybe it was 1,500+ yen for a small thing like that).

The other stores in Laforet are mostly fashion stores, each store has their own unique theme and style going on. From sophisticated chic to ‘idgaf what you think, this is what I like to wear’ punk clothes. The bottom levels of the building has a good amount of ‘lolita’ clothing and I even spotted an Angelic Pretty store. A big range of gorgeous and cute clothing but the price will make your wallet cry. But I guess that’s the price you pay for ease of mind through expressing yourself through clothing.

There was also a store seemed to be dedicated towards plus size women with sales assistants who were also plus sized but when I try to look it up on the Laforet website I couldn’t quite find it so maybe it was a pop up store? I’m not sure, but either way it was nice to see it in a sea of stores that have small sizes on display (as a foreigner it’s a bit hard trying to find your size haha).

Next up is the never ending journey to find the legendary belt…

—Psychedelic entrance

We checked out Tokyu Plaza for a little bit for some belts as well as something to eat but there’s not a lot of restaurants in there except for Starbucks (which has a nice outside dining area btw) or “bills” restaurant that had a big line waiting to get in. So we went back onto the streets to look for a place to eat and eventually we all agreed to eat at a basement cafe.

The basement cafe was pretty quaint with waiters wearing snazzy uniforms and a smoking and non-smoking area. I’m guessing all basement restaurants have smoking sections at this point? Anyway we were seated in the non-smoking section right next to the smoking section

It was kinda expensive and I think I accidentally asked for 2 iced coffees instead of 2 ice teas. They gave us a small, tiny milk jug the size of half a thumb to share between me and my mum lol. Not gonna lie but that iced coffee was bitter as hell, my bad for trying something different. The carbonara was tasty but was a small portion (they served it one of those hat shaped plates where the pasta was in the small indentation lol). But the dessert was good.

After eating we went back to looking for some belts and after going back and forth between Laforet and Chicago. Eventually we just gave up and bought men’s belts at Chicago.

Some info on Chicago, there are two stores on the same street in Harajuku. The one we went to was Chicago Omotesando. Most of the clothes sold there are ‘vintage’ international and Japanese clothing, you can find cheap kimono and yukata there (heck I ever saw bridal kimono for when you’re getting married). Though I have a feeling that by vintage they mean second hand The store really smells a little musky, no offence, but I guess if you like the smell of old clothes you’ll enjoy browsing through Chicago stores. It seems like they only sell men’s belts though, no lady belts

Anyway we had to go back early because my mum’s cold was setting in. Because there was still more time left in the day I decided to go and discover what Ikebukuro has to offer and take a journey to “Otome Road“.

Location: Ikebukuro

I went to Sunshine 60 Street in Ikebukuro that lights up nicely with neon signs at night. There was a Sanrio gift store that sells a big range of sanrio mascot characters. There was a small shelf space dedicated to Cogimyun merch (who is apparently a character made out of dough?) and was pretty cute. There was some Aggretsuko merch at the back though they were just small stuff like badges, small plushies and a blind box of Agrretsuko vinyl character figures. I was tempted on getting the blind box but it was like 1,800 yen per box or something and it didn’t have my man Haida in it.

I stopped by SEGA GiGO Ikebukuro and tried my hand at getting something from one of those UFO catchers. I forgot how to play Sega’s UFO catchers where I thought I could freely move the claw instead of being restricted to move horizontally and then move vertically when done with moving the claw horizontally (I remember doing the same mistakes when playing it virtually in the Yakuza games). I also made the mistake of taking on the UFO machines that have boxed prizes. It may seem easy to just grab the box in the middle but that won’t get you anywhere in terms of getting it into the chute Anyway I gave up and just rolled in an A3 gacha machine bc at least I’m getting at least something.

I took a detour to see the Otomate building. Never went inside but its advertising Crimson Clan on it’s billboard.

—The start of Otome Road, every store beyond this point is an otome hotspot

Anyway onto Otome Road. They call it Otome Road as the stores in the area mostly stock goods and other stuff aimed at girls/women, though visiting it in real life I’ve realised that it’s a very small area. I dunno if I dumb or not but when I went into the animate building I was under the impression that it was a normal animate store that sells books/good/games but it’s more like a cafe? I didn’t go anywhere beyond the ground floor so lol, I’ll never know bc I’m a dumb dumb.

The store that I liked the most was the Lashinbang right next to the animate building which has a lot of bargain bin anime DVDs, cheap Drama CDs + character songs as well as cheap otome games, though their selection of second-hand Switch games is limited. Funny thing is I saw Ikemen Sengoku for the PS Vita on the shelf for about 4,000+ yen, I was requested to review the game and was hoping to get it while I was in Japan but I thought to myself “Maybe I can get it cheaper elsewhere” little did past-Billy know was that she made the wrong decision as she couldn’t find it anywhere else and when she got back to the store on her final day in Tokyo it was gone. I also missed the opportunity to buy the Nintendo Switch Diabolik Lovers game just to have a good laugh at it.

The other Lashinbang store next to it was mainly smaller character goods merchandise, a hot spot for those who want to collect merch of their fav boi to add to their itabag or character shrine to worship to. Obviously these goods are kinda second-hand and are also trading items, if its items of popular characters the store can turn a profit by charging ECT (a term I’ve come up with, stands for “Egregious Character Tax”), the more popular the character the more expensive their goods are. Same goes for items that are now rare like these Readyyy! Birthday Badges.

Next up I went to Kbooks next door. One thing I’ve learnt is that there are many Kbooks stores in Ikebukuro, each store having a speciality from Anime to Video Games to merchandise of youtubers? yeah. Anyway the one I went into had the first floor mostly dedicated to Touken Ranbu and other popular anime/games, I got my Hasebe noodle stopper there though looking back on it I dunno if 2,400 something yen was the right price for it haha.

Because it was getting dark I took one quick look at Mandarake. It’s a huge ass store filled to the brim with doujinshis, collectable merchandise of anime/games/even stage actors, figures and other goods. The shelves filled with doujins are neatly organised with tabs showing what series it is, the type of pairing, doujins specifically with a certain character as the uke etc. I saw some A3! doujins but didn’t have the time to inspect each and every doujin and shelf.

—Day 3—

Day 3 was when we kinda got our shit together and left early. Day plan was to go to Meiji Jingu then go to Disneyland, but because we underestimated the budget of the trip we had to make a side trip to a money changer. I wanted to see Yoyogi Park considering its in the vicinity of Meiji Jingu but alas…

Location: Meiji Jingu

So we’re back at Harajuku again at the Meiji Jingu entrance and gosh its gorgeous. It’s summer time so foliage in Japan is a pleasant green.

The path to the shrine is a bit long but the scenery is gorgeous. It’s interesting how a big area filled with tall trees and greenery is in the middle of the city.

There are little side trails on the way to the shrine but because I didn’t want to push my luck by dragging my family anywhere I want to I decided to just keep going forward.

Also met a friendly crow/raven just near the shrine. It looks similar in size to the ones in Australia but a little bit bigger and their tail feathers & wings seem a big longer. I regret not getting down on one knee and propose to it took a better picture of it at a good angle. When you get to the shrine you’re allowed to partake in the customs such as purifying yourself and praying. When you’re at a purification fountain there may be a sign with instructions in English on how to purify yourself but when I was at Meiji Jingu I didn’t see a sign. However a local was kind enough to guide me to do it properly. You could always just skip it if you’re a tourist but I guess you’re missing out the experience of doing it.

On a good day you’ll often see marriage ceremonies going on at the shrine, though on the day we went there seemed to be a lot of couples getting married at the shrine. I guess everyone wants to be a bride in June. We were fortune enough to see a marriage procession and gosh, everyone at the shrine was completely silent just watching the bride and groom. Not something you see everyday unless you go to shrines every day to see people getting married . Again being short with time I couldn’t fully explore Meiji Jingu other than the main area but I did take the chance to have a little prayer at the shrine.

Here’s a compilation of pics I took at the shrine:

We ate at Italian Tomato Cafe Jr. (a mouthful of a name), which is a bit cheaper than the place we ate the previous day. It’s also close by to a hedgehog cafe which caught my eye from the cute advertisements like a picture of a hedgehog wearing a tiny top hat.

I tried out Italian Tomato Pizza Pasta Cafe’s curry with chicken and it was pretty good. It’s a shame they didn’t have more chicken to balance the meal because it felt like there was more curry and rice than there was meat (I just love meat). I also tried their chocolate cake and its as good as a chocolate cake can get.

I would recommend eating there again if you can’t decide on which place to eat at. Also has a nice view upstairs of Omotesando.

One nice tidbit of this place is that in the upstairs area, once you’ve finished eating it’s encouraged that you take your tray to the tray collection area near the top of the stairs so an employee can take it away, which is quite convenient when you want to clear out tables for the next costumer. I found this to be the case with other eating places as well like KFC and MOS Burgers.

Location: Shinjuku

Next up a pit stop in Shinjuku looking for a money changer because google maps told me its the only nearest place lol. I was looking for a certain money changer because their rates online looked good but apparently when we got there it was “Closed”, but I guess it was shut down or something because the place looked kinda shady.

So we went looking elsewhere and found that almost every other place has shockingly bad rates. At the time google says 1 Australian dollar equals 75 yen, which is a starting point and I wouldn’t bet any money changer would have that rate but the ones we saw gave us rates ranging from 64~67 yen. YIKES. We settled down with a place that gave us a rate of 71 yen because we’re tired af.

During our journey looking for the money changer I spied another shrine hidden between two buildings in the hustle and bustle of Shinjuku. After looking it up for this post it turns out to be one of the entrances to the Hanazono Shrine, which dates back to the 17th Century.

We also walked past Kabukicho–Shinjuku’s redlight district and inspiration to my favourite game location “Kamurocho” in the Yakuza series. Just walking past it makes me feel familiar and nostalgic with all the streets and alleyways. Though I won’t lie when I say I was a bit intimidated from the thought of entering further into Kabukicho even in broad daylight haha. Also the little Godzilla head poking out from a building was pretty cute, especially with the new Godzilla movie poster looks like it’s looking up to it .

We checked out Don Quijote for souvenirs but the cheapest we could find was something for 400 yen. There goes the thought of buying a bunch of 100~200 yen souvenirs for everyone at home haha. Though I did find some weird but funny novelty items, like the dong keychain (avert your eyes, link is NSFW).

Location: Disneyland

—TokyoDisneyland Hotel looking like a mansion/castle from a fairy tale

Next up, Disneyland, but also having to deal with Tokyo Station. My goodness its like a labyrinth, if it weren’t for the signs pointing the right way we would’ve been lost. So we take the train from Tokyo Station to Disneyland. I read online that on weekends, if you buy tickets after 3pm it’ll be cheaper. The regular 1-day pass costs about 7,400 yen or so but the starlight pass is 5,400 yen after 3pm. Bad mistake on my behalf because we spent like 2 hours waiting in line for a restaurant because we were hungry and tired.

Yeah you heard right. This is our first time to Disneyland so we didn’t know about the rules where it is discouraged to wait in line for restaurants as the people who reserved seats earlier have priority over the ones waiting in line. So we’re waiting in line for over an hour and when we got upstairs we had to wait in a waiting room for a table to be available. So the line we were in was just to wait for a seat in the waiting room

The food was good though, but I wouldn’t say it was worth the wait. But at least I witnessed something cute from the neighbouring table. I dunno the specifics but this is what I figured out, there were two girls at a table and there was this handsome waiter serving their table almost every time and sometimes flirting with one of the girls. Eventually the girl got a cake with candle so I was wondering if it was the girl’s birthday or if it was her anniversary with her boyfriend who was the waiter. Either way it was pretty cute.

Anyway my mum was feeling under the weather from waiting and walking as well as her cold taking toll so we were given 1 more hour to look around in Disneyland before we went home. We only got to explore a little part of “Fantasy Land” before our time was up.

At that moment Disneyland was having an Easter event (yes in June) so there were a bunch of egg-bois statues hidden in different locations. Also there was supposed to be a fireworks display but “due to poor weather conditions” it was cancelled. Talk about bad luck.

Anyway here’s some pics I took:

Though it was a short stay in Disneyland and we didn’t get to explore much, it was okay. Would’ve been better if we just bit the bullet and just paid 2,000 yen more for the day pass and spend one whole day there

—Day 4—

Day 4 my sister and I were left to our own devices as our mum wanted to rest for the day. Which means a whole day to ourselves in Akihabara buying stuff that is potentially useless but yeehaw anyway.

Location: Ueno Park

But first a pit stop at Ueno Park. Honestly I wanted to go to Sensou-ji but I also wanted to go with everyone so had to skip on that and just have a stroll in Ueno Park.

We went there on a weekend so it was more lively. There were tents pitched up selling small knick-knacks to kitchenware to paintings. There was also a display of beautiful bonsai near the Tokyo National Museum.

Ueno Park hosts a lot of things such as a Starbucks cafe, Museums and art galleries, a zoo and a buddhist temple surrounded by a pond. Really is a good spot to have a Sunday stroll with the family.

There is also a shrine hidden amongst everything, though you can’t miss it when the flags catches your eye.

Before leaving Ueno Park for Akihabara, I noticed this statue near the National Museum of Western Art. I had to take the picture by being sneaky because it looked so hauntingly beautiful but I couldn’t get any closer as the gates to the museum was closed.

Thanks to a tip off of a passerby going “あっ！地獄の門だ” when I was taking the shot, I looked it up and turns out its “The Gates of Hell” by Auguste Rodin. Apparently there are seven of these gates around the world.

Location: Akihabara

This is what the whole trip was building up to lol. I shopped till I dropped but unfortunately I didn’t get everything on my list. Seems like the road is closed on Sundays so pedestrians can freely walk on the street and take pics like this.

I checked out FGO Arcade at SEGA Akihabara but was too intimidated thinking I’d make a fool of myself. At least I took a pic of Gil.

I bought a few figure/statue stuffs, though I found out that figures are more expensive on the main street. I got a figure for dirt cheap at 800 yen at Lashinbang in a narrow street behind the main street when it was being sold for 1,500 yen or more on the main street.

This Lashinbang store I would highly recommend for your cheap figure needs. When I first entered I saw some second-hand figures in plastic bags on a rack for a good price, though I dunno whats been on those figures *shudders at the thought*. There was a second-hand Anzu Futaba prize figure that I was tempted to get though I noticed the dust collected on her dress. Though it’s easy to get the dust off with a vacuum or something. They also sell unopened prize figures for a good price as well.

Though I may have went a little ham when I found badges and straps of my favourite character…

Kotobukiya, located in the same street as Lashinbang, is also a good place to get new figures and goods. Though don’t expect a good discount, but at least it’s not overpriced either. It’s also a great place for plastic model, doll + figure making enthusiasts as they sell tools like acrylic paint, epoxy for model/figure building, tape, tools for carving and sculpting etc. There are also a couple of dolls like cu-poche, Good Smile Company’s Nendoroid Dolls and other stuff to customise your own doll.

Also on the same street is a Traders store that sells cheap games (I’m guessing preowned games). They’ve got a clear sign/tab showing where the otome games are at:

—Kenka Banchou Otome 2nd Rumble has been cut down in price. Was released back in March

—Volks Hobby Paradise building with a Rose of Versailles doll as an advertisement billboard on the side

Volks Hobby Paradise is also a good place to look for character goods and figures though that place ain’t cheap. The prices of their figures/statues are a bit more expensive but not crazy expensive. Though be warned it has a lot of floors.

I wanted to check out Amiami’s store which is 2 floors in a building. Though I couldn’t find what I was looking for. There was a lot of girl figures but not a lot of ikemen figures. Also be warned that R18 figures are out in the open at this store, so maybe not a great place to take an unsuspecting family member to. I was a bit disappointed with the store though… But turns out this was 1 of 2 Amiami stores in Akihabara. I looked it up after my trip and found out there was another Amiami store located on the edge of the Electric Town. Maybe in an alternate reality I could’ve gone there instead and found stuff that interested me… So I would recommend checking out both stores for some goodies.

While looking around for something sweet to eat (I refused to go to one of the Maidreamin cafes because I felt kinda embarrassed but boy did the desserts they have on the pamphlet looked good) we found a pop-up Racing Miku store.

There was a good amount of Racing Miku merch in this pop-up store. Some mugs, umbrellas, tapestry and jackets/shirts. Though being a cheap ass, looking at the prices made me refrain from buying and instead just rolled in a racing miku themed gacha for 300 yen lol.

Location: Ikebukuro

So it’s our final night in Tokyo before going to Kyoto. We got our tickets reserved for back and forth between Tokyo and Kyoto as well as the Narita Express going to the airport for the final day. Though it was a tight schedule to plan out, the people at the JR ticket office managed to get us seats for our trip back to the airport. Though it also meant we couldn’t make a single mistake on our 7th day or else we would miss our chance to be at the airport and miss our flight.

Anyway I would like to take a moment to mention ”Lumine” located near/inside Ikebukuro station. We only went there once to look for a belt on day 1 but my first impressions of it was pretty good. Essentially its like a mall with different fashion brand stores but what I really like about it is it’s 2~3 stores of restaurants located in it’s higher levels. They’ve got a restaurant for almost every cuisine from Thai food to Chinese food to Taiwanese food. A good couple of the restaurants have display cabinets of realistic looking fake food to entice you. I wish I had taken photos because they were mouth-watering. Also the desserts looked good too. I think most of the prices for the restaurants and cafes are mid-range in price.

Too bad we never had the chance to try out some of the food. Though if I do go back to Japan I’d try to dine there at least once (and stuff my face with desserts).

Also while we were exploring Lumine we accidentally found ourselves at the top floor. Apparently they hold cooking class at the “ABC Cooking Studio” at the top floor of Lumine. It was pretty neat to look at as the walls of the studio have windows on them and the studio looked so clean and welcoming.

—Day 5—

Wake up early, last day in Tokyo (at least half a day in Tokyo). So I decide to spend an hour or two to do last minute shopping near Otome Road… by myself.

Location: Ikebukuro

I’ve taken a liking to Ikebukuro, mainly because its my home base for the trip. Its very chic, quaint and kinda reminds me of my city.

I tried to revisit some shops I had went to the other day but because most shops open at 10am I had to wait around for a bit, so I took some better daylight pictures of Otome Road.

I eventually just hang out at Jeans Mate which is open 24 hours and waited until 10am. Turns out this store had belts for mens and ladies for a cheap price of 900 yen (1,000 yen with tax). There was also yukata for sale for0 about 7,000 yen. I couldn’t exactly find my size, though there was yukata with the length of 164cm… I’m about 172cm so unsure if I could fit or not But the patterns for the yukata was very nice looking.

Checked out Animate Ikebukuro and its a good place to find female oriented DVDs/books/manga/games/CDs. Though I kinda noticed that the floor for female oriented manga was mostly filled with BL manga and a small portion of shoujo/TL. I think I even saw a shelf dedicated to omegaverse manga The selection of ikemen figures was kinda disappointing as well as the video games shelf….

—Had to do a double take, but yes theres only two shelves worth of games in this branch

I shouldn’t have expected to have cheaper prices but the selection of games on the shelf is pretty limited. Private Academy VerRose wasn’t even on the shelf. Ikemen Sengoku–a game released in early 2018–was still at the ripe price of 6,300 yen when compared to the newer 2019 Switch ports that are also 6,300 yen. You’d think now that the PS Vita is dead the prices of PS Vita games would fall but nope. Anyway if there are any better Animate branches to get an otome game fix just holler down in the comments below.

I didn’t get anything from Animate and when I checked Lashinbang at Otome Road I found out the Ikemen Sengoku game I wanted was already gone. So basically I wasted a morning achieving nothing except buying a belt for myself lol.

Location: Kyoto

On our way to Kyoto via Shinkansen. We got our ekiben (train station lunch boxes) near our platform entrance. I really wanted the karaage ekiben but they were sold out and my mum was rushing me because she thought we missed the train despite having 20 minutes left on the clock. I got the chicken rice bentou and right after getting it I saw the delivery guy arrive to replenish the karaage ekiben stock Oh well.

—I think I got the kids meal, maybe?

The chicken rice bentou was pretty good. I underestimated how chock full it was. So basically we got some chicken rice with peas, some karaage (I think?), fried shrimp/tempura shrimp, some spaghett underneath the shrimp, a small salad, macaroni salad? with prawns, I think there was baked potato slices but I cant remember. I wanted to eat all of it but started to feel under the weather. It seems like my body just gave up on day 5 from guiding everyone and going out every day and just accepted all the cold bacteria/virus lol.

I really enjoyed the ride to Kyoto via the Shinkansen. It’s better than travelling by plane where you get bad leg room or poor seat comfort and then having to be pressurised all the time during the flight. In the Shinkansen you’ve got a good amount of leg room, you can lean back your chair to a good extent, there’s lavatories in every other car, there’s also an attendant selling food and drinks from her cart, it’s not too noisy and is a smooth ride. Plus there is free wifi on board and an outlet to charge your devices, though sometimes the wifi goes out for some reason so I had to use my data most of the time.

Arrived at Kyoto 2-and-a-half hours later, got to our hotel and decided to go out for dinner. I really wanted to go to Gionto go to an okonomiyaki restaurant for dinner but things didn’t go as planned as I was too dumb to find the right bus stop. Google maps kept telling me to go to the Karasuma Gojo bus stop and located the bus stop in the middle of traffic.

I tell you what, don’t trust google maps with directions to bus stops in Kyoto.

So we gave up and ate at Yoshinoya that you can see in the map above. It’s fairly cheap for a good meal. At this store you’ll have to order through a machine near the entrance (the waiter/attendant pointed us to the machine as it was our first time at this sort of place). I paid about 800 yen? for a katsudon and I thought I pressed the “small” order but when it came in it was still too big for me. I couldn’t finish it sadly because I was full but also because I was too embarrassed with my sloppy chopstick skills to continue eating. It was still good though. The tea at this place is complementary with your meal and you can refill any time during your meal.

There is also a kimono/yukata rental place nearby. I saw a couple of people wearing yukata walking around on the streets so I guess you won’t feel out of place (well as long as you’re wearing yukata with someone else imo).

—Day 6—

Next day is baby’s day out. I had planned to go to Fushimi Inari Shrine but I didn’t want to further exhaust my family so I decided to go to Nijo Castle and the Golden Pavilion.

Location: Nijo Castle

This time I got my shit together and caught the right bus to Nijo Castle. For those who don’t know, Nijo Castle (or Nijojo) was founded by Tokugawa Ieyasu (I’m pretty fond of this historical figure for some reason, maybe because of Sengoku Basara) and was the castle where the Tokugawa shogunate resided until it became imperial property and eventually was donated to the city of Kyoto.

—Gate entrance to Ninomaru + entrance to Ninomaru

You’re allowed to walk inside Ninomaru but you’re not allowed to take photos inside and you must take off your shoes at the entrance way before going further in. The floorboards of Ninomaru are called “nightingale floors” as they make sounds whenever stepped upon. It kinda makes a chirping sound.

The walking segment includes walking through the hallways and peering into each room (yeah, you’re not allowed to go inside the rooms). Each room has different wall designs/paintings. A couple of the designs include tigers, hawks, cranes and other forms of nature. There are also plaques and signs inside Ninomaru explaining each room as well as dummys/dolls recreating important scenes in certain rooms.

After the walk inside Ninomaru we explored some of the gardens and the lookout tower. There are a couple of moats inside the castle and in those moats are koi carps–a couple of grey carps and a few orange carps. There’s a gachapon that has fish food near one of the bridges where the koi carps often hang out. You can feed them and watch them go crazy.

Also spied some birbs from the lookout tower. Unsure what the first bird is but it was stretching out its wing as it chilled on the moat wall. The other birb is a hawk? I think. It caught my eye when I saw it circling near the castle. I tried my best to zoom in as close as possible despite it being far away but I think you can make up what it is.

The Honmaru section of the castle was being renovated so I didn’t get a good look at it, so I’m unsure if you’re allowed to walk inside it or not. There were other gardens and some pit stops to rest. The whole place was nicely taken care of, especially the garden.

Here’s the rest of my pics when at Nijo Castle.

Also if you’re hungry for some burgers and don’t mind the couple minute walk I suggest to go visit Mos Burger that’s on the second floor of a supermarket. I really loved their teriyaki chicken burger and it’s meal is at an alright price.

Location: Golden Pavilion / Kinkakuji

Despite a bit of an overcast on the day it eventually became a bit hot, especially when we were at Kinkakuji. Hell my face got red from the sun beaming directly onto my face.

But I guess it was worth it to see the golden pavilion. There isn’t much to do after seeing the pavilion except following the path to a temple where you can pray, light an incense or light a candle that has writing engraved on it. There are candles for success in studying, getting a job, family health etc. There are also some souvenir shops near the exit.

Here are some more pics:

There are a few ice cream stores/stands nearby. Though the one we ate at was outside the entrance to Kinkakuji, a little store called Yamazaki-An. There is a seating area outside with umbrellas to shade you from the harsh summer sun. There are limited flavours though: mocha flavour, vanilla flavour, half-vanilla and half-mocha and finally mocha flavour with gold sprinkles. Yes, they use gold leaf pieces as sprinkles. Its a nice relief when you’re visiting in summer and they also serve tea.

There are more stores down the road and we happened upon one selling some interesting items. Like a Shinsengumi Spongebob Squarepants (plus minions), eye masks saying “Do-M King” and “Do-S King” as well as many more novelty goods.

—Day 7—

Spent the whole day travelling from Kyoto to Tokyo so we could catch our flight back. Don’t try this at home kids because it was stressful as hell trying to beat the clock but we made it on time. I would definitely not do that again (I don’t want to push my luck) so maybe next time if I spend my last days in Japan I would use the nearest airport to catch a flight back home. We couldn’t explore Narita’s departure area’s stores but there were some good souvenir stores near our gate.

The store on the left offers a lot of omiyage in the form of snacks to get for your friends, family and coworkers back at home. The ones we got was small rounded cakes that have a soft outside and a jelly-like inside which was strawberry flavoured. There was also a Hello Kitty themed snack omiyage though we only got just two boxes of the strawberry one. There was a good amount of people buying at least 10 boxes and the place is really busy with people getting their last chance souvenirs.

I really love the packaging these omiyage come in, its so aesthetically pleasing and neat. So maybe next time I’ll try to bring home one of each type of snack omiyage available

—Overall Thoughts

Honestly I’ve been wanting to visit Japan ever since I started learning Japanese in high school and seeing classmates go on study trips/student exchange to our sister school in Japan. So was it worth it? Despite all the bad luck we had during the trip, piled on with our Australian dollar plummeting because of tension between America and China making us lose more money when exchanging to Japanese yen (it still hasn’t recovered btw), I thoroughly enjoyed it. Makes me want to go again now that I have a little more confidence in exploring Tokyo and I’m more familiar with a few of its train stations. Hopefully next time I don’t have a mini-meltdown from having to figure out wheres the exist in a train station.

Though I do have a lot of regrets with this trip. Like, I should’ve just had a whole week in Tokyo instead of deciding last minute to go to Kyoto for 2 days (turned out to be 1 and a half days) or I should’ve booked a 2 week holiday to fully explore Tokyo and Kyoto. Should’ve, would’ve, could’ve. Though I guess that’s what mistakes are for, so you can learn from it and have a better experience next time. Next time I won’t force a lot of activities into one short trip and maybe next time I should just invest in an IC card if I’m not travelling too much across Japan lol.

Anyway here’s the pros and cons I’ve experienced with travelling in Tokyo+Kyoto, as well as some tips:

Pros

Pretty safe, safe enough to walk around at night (though still be cautious)

Trains are punctual and clean, I even spotted a train with a “women only” car

Shinkansen is convenient, comfortable and fast

7-Eleven is the go to place to get cheap meals and dessert if you want to really squeeze every penny

Yen coins are quite handy when you want to pay the exact amount for something without getting more change in coins

Most customer service will speak English, there are signs with English on it and there are English menus available at restaurants so it’s not too hard to get by without knowledge of the Japanese language (but it does help to have a few Japanese words drilled into your brain)

Desserts are so good in Japan I don’t know why. They look so good and tastes even better

A good range of food to choose from in most areas. If you find one restaurant there’s bound to be more nearby

Streets are clean

Trains like the JR Yamanote Line are very convenient in terms of showing the next stops via a screen on top of the doors. You can keep track of where you are and it will also tell you how many minutes it’ll take until you reach the station you want to get off

Kyoto buses are also fixed with screens at the front of the bus showing what are the next stops in English, Japanese, Korean and Chinese. There are also little graphics depicting castles, temples or shrines on top of certain tourist spot bus stops on the screen

Though I didn’t get one on this trip, IC cards are pretty useful from paying train rides to buying drinks at a vending machine. Hell you can even pay for certain arcade games (like the UFO catcher/Claw machines) with your IC card

Cons

Most stores (excluding some food stores and 24 hour stores) usually open at 10 am, 11 am sometimes and 12 pm for certain businesses. So its a bummer when you want to go out early because you have a busy day scheduled and want to visit a hobby store first thing in the morning but it doesn’t open until 10 am or 11 am (or even worse, 12 pm)

Non-residents cannot get a SIM card that is talk/text/data unless they pay extra (sometimes talk/text/data SIM cards for tourists will cost 5,000 yen or even 7,000+ yen) or get the somewhat cheaper option of a data only SIM card (I got mine for about 1,500+ yen for 1.5GB of data and lasts for 30 days but even that is too much for a SIM). Its recommended to get a smart phone to rent if you’re keen on using a phone to call and text people within Japan

Its hella expensive sometimes. A guide book on Kyoto I got before the trip that was made in 2017 said that admission for certain places was at a cheaper rate than what I experienced in the year 2019 (admission for the places I went to was at least 200 yen more than what was described in the guide book). Its even worse when your currency is weak and can’t compete with the USD and Euro

Beware of bicyclists when walking. Its nice to see places like Tokyo and Kyoto adopt bicycles as a major mode of transport but sometimes its a hassle as a pedestrian when sharing the footpath with bicycles going at high speed (and I bet bicyclists find pedestrians a hassle as well). Each time I see a bicycle heading in my direction I freeze up not knowing which direction I should go to avoid getting hit

Japan is a bit more lax with places that allows smoking. I found that the times I went to a basement level cafe or restaurant that they allowed smoking. If you’re quite sensitive when inhaling smoke it’s probably best to avoid basement eatery

JR Pass is quite handy for breezing through train station ticket gates by showing them your pass but it comes with a downside as it doesn’t cover riding subway lines or buses in Kyoto. I tried to avoid using subway lines as I didn’t want my JR Pass to go to waste but it would’ve been much more convenient and quicker to take the subway to certain places. JR Pass also doesn’t cover their faster Shinkansen trains that skip a few stations so you’ll have to cough up more money if you want to arrive at your destination more quickly

Tips

There are a couple of money changers in the city that have not-so-great rates. I’d suggest changing money in your own country as you are more familiar with the area and prolly won’t get lost searching. Make sure to shop around each possible money changer to find the best rate

When taking buses in Kyoto and you don’t have an IC card (Suica or pasmo), you can pay for your ride with yen coins. The flat rate of riding buses in Kyoto is about 230 yen (one way) and you must pay the exact amount in coins before exiting the bus. It’s always hand to prepare the coins before getting on the bus and keep it in your pocket so you don’t hold up people when searching for the right amount of coins (there is also a machine that breaks your 1,000 yen bills into coins but does not accept higher than that). Also take note that you enter Kyoto buses at the back and exit at the front door.

Recently “Tax Free Shops” have popped up around Japan (or at least Tokyo). If you see a store that has this sign it means that if you purchase certain goods such as clothes, cosmetics, jewellery etc over 5,000 yen and you are a foreigner as a temporary visitor you can get the 8% consumer tax refunded but only as long as you show your passport and you apply for the tax exemption on the same day. So it’s best to carry your passport around if you plan to go on a shopping spree (but it kinda sucks when you’re at a tax free store and you buy something below 5,000 yen). Though there are a couple more rules to it so check out the official website

If you want to get Disneyland merch but don’t want to pay to go inside the park to go get them you can shop at the Bon Voyage store outside of Maihama Station

Also best to avoid rush hour when riding trains. Rush hours are 7:30~9:30 am and 5:00~8:00pm, though it really depends on what train line you’re taking

If you missed out on getting a data only SIM card at the airport you can always get one at Bic Camera. Their stores are almost everywhere you go so its hard to miss it

Something that also comes in handy is Handy, its a complementary smartphone that certain hotels have in every room. It has data, has the essential apps installed into it like google maps and also gives you offers/discounts at partnered places. It can also make local and international calls (international calls are limited to a small handful of countries). So if you don’t want to cough up money on a data only SIM card or the more expensive talk/text/data SIM card then it’s worth looking out for a hotel that offers a complementary Handy smartphone

If you’re on a short trip or visiting for a week or two, it’s prolly best to pack lightly or at least have a medium to small sized suitcase as hotels can be small and it is hard to lug around a large suitcase on escalators and in Shinkansen + trains (medium and small luggage can be stowed on the baggage shelf above your seat but large luggage is a little more tough to stow away in the Shinkansen–usually put it in the space behind the last row of seats… though it still troubles the people who have the last row seats)

If you don’t want to catch a cold during the trip it’s prolly best to take a lot of vitamin C, keep hydrated and don’t forget to pack (or buy) hand sanitiser. Sometimes the smallest cold can ruin a trip for you

That’s about it for my long winded diary post about my first trip in Japan. Hopefully I get another chance to go back but I don’t think that’ll be any time soon I’ll write another separate post on the goods I got during my trip though it’s nothing too spectacular.

Oof there was a lot of stuff I missed out in June. So I’ll start this post with a couple of amendments:

Last month’s overview I totally forgot to add three games that were going to be released in June (I prolly forgot bc they’re download exclusive). So here’s the games I forgot to mention:

Dear Magi -Mahou Shounen Gakka- was released on the Nintendo Switch on the 6th of June. It is a port of a mobile game that had shut down recently. I’m not entirely sure if it has the “otome aspects” y’all crave for but it mostly focuses on the heroine who is a master to these “magical boys”. There is currently a whopping 10 DLCs ranging from 540 yen to 756 yen.

Enchanted in the Moonlight -Miyabi, Kyoga & Samon and Enchanted in the Moonlight -Kiryu, Chikage & Yukinojo- (two separate games btw) was released on the Japanese eShop (Japanese ver) and North American eShop (English ver) on the 13th of June. Funnily enough I can’t find it in the Australian eShop so I’m unsure if the English version is available anywhere else so I’m assuming it released in America because we all know every single foreigner to Japan resides in America *rolls eyes*. This is Voltage’s first otome games to be ported to the Nintendo Switch and not the last as they’re planning to port “Star-Crossed Myth” later in 2019.

There were some posts I wanted to write up in June but never got around to, one of them was writing a post announcing the Switch port for Toraware no Palm. Hopefully I can get around to writing it this month.

Last month was also this blog’s anniversary haha. It’s almost a running gag where I always forget my blog’s anniversary. I think last year I slightly celebrated it so maybe that was the first and last time I did a post to celebrate lol. Anyway I’ve been blogging for about 4 years now, hopefully there’s plenty more years in me even though I’ve been slowing down a bit

Anyway, onto talking about this month. Right now July is the month of Takuyo vs Otomate vs A Porno Game. It’s actually interesting to see Takuyo with a double release this month, though its a bit disheartening that they’ve haven’t produced some new promo videos for their games…

Before I get started on my game synopsis for this month, let me talk a bit about the new otome game localisation news. Aksys Games, prolly the only company that’s willing to localising a couple of console otome games, announced at AX (an anime con) that they will be localising 6 otome games from Otomate, not to mention all of those games will be on the Nintendo Switch. Most of them are set for a 2020 release. If you would like more info I’d suggest checking out a fellow otome blogger Kitty Chlo’s blog post.

As for my opinions on the news, I welcome it with open arms… though it’s strange that they’re localising “Code:Realize ~Guardian of Rebirth~” (the original game) and “Code:Realize ~Future Blessings~” (the first fandisc) as separate games rather than localising “Code:Realize ~Saikou no Hanataba“, which is a Switch game released in September 2018 that combines both the original game and the fandisc into one game . The same goes for CollarxMalice (original game) and CollarxMalice -Unlimited- (fandisc) getting separate Switch releases when Otomate is porting the two games into one for the first time to the Switch which is slated for 2020.

Its very strange indeed. You could make an excuse and say “Aksys Games didn’t know about CollarxMalice getting a bundle port to the Switch because it was announced so recently”. But it makes me wonder how does the negotiation between them and Otomate goes down in terms of making deals for localising their games… Like did Otomate know they were going to make a bundle port before negotiating for a split localised port for CollarxMalice with Aksys or nuh? Oh what I would give to be a fly on the wall during the negotiations. Though its mainly to maximise profits right? lol

Anyway onto running down on this month’s games:

Kaeru Batake de Tsukamaete is a port to the Switch of a PS Vita port which is a port of a PSP game which is a port of a PS2 game. As the portable console generation increases the chain of ports will increase, ngl. From the looks of it (on vndb) it seems like a love comedy based on the story summary where the heroine and her upperclassman&classmate accidentally break a mysterious shrine at the school which turns them into frogs? There’s also some mini-games.

Tlicolity Eyes ~twinkle showtime~ is a port to the Switch of a collection of PC games (3 games to be exact, they all serve as 3 parts of the same story but with 3 different heroines with their respective suitors). The story focuses on the entertainment industry and three sisters one sister is an aspiring actress, the other is a photographer and the eldest is an idol manager and they are all heroines of their own story. These sisters share an ability that boosts up an individual’s status but there’s a side effect to their power where the person affected by the heroine’s ability will become their “prisoner” (aka have their heart captured by the heroine). Switch bonus content is a bonus event based on the bonus drama CD given out in the PC version which is fully voiced and has a new CG, after stories for happy endings that includes new CGs (6 in total), 18 short stories in total, heroine faces are now an option and updated sprite graphics that will animate eyes blinking and mouths flapping.

Shinigami to Shoujo is a PS Vita port of a PSP game. Its about a girl who meets a shinigami boyo. Her author older brother (who is blood related and prolly has a route so yikes) is writing a story called “Shinigami to Shoujo” about a girl and a shinigami looking for the most beautiful word that exists. The heroine is also voiced.

Piofiore no Banshou -ricordo- is a Switch port of a PS Vita game. Its about mafias and the Italy pizza pasta in the 1920s (after the first world war) and a church girl caught in the middle of a mafia pizza pasta war. It’ll be the same game as the PS Vita except on the Switch with some added bonus content. There will be an after story that takes place after the best end and will show the simple everyday activities of the couple of your choice, a short story taking place after bad ends in the POV of the guy for all you masochists out there, a short story that takes place after the finale/all guys end and finally there will be over 15 new event CGs that will accompany existing events.

Monochrome Wizard is a new R18 PC game, that may be an isekai because the heroine (who lives in the modern world) somehow finds herself in some other world where these military guys find her and somewhere along the line they just bang her I guess. Honestly don’t know much about plot, but they plan on releasing a soundtrack and drama CD 2 months after the game’s release, after all Dusk is an R18 drama cd company foremost. Anyway the announcement of this game was quite sudden especially when it has an earlier release compared to Dusk’s other PC game in the works that was announced before this game. Makes me wonder if this game will be ready on time Anyway there will be 10 endings, 2 romantic interests, the heroine is unvoiced.

That’s about it for this month.

Thanks for reading!

]]>https://yankeebanchou.wordpress.com/2019/07/06/monthly-overview-july-2019-overview/feed/7Photo 6-7-19, 11 48 40 pmotomebunnyOtomate Party 2019 Rounduphttps://yankeebanchou.wordpress.com/2019/06/29/otomate-party-2019-roundup/
https://yankeebanchou.wordpress.com/2019/06/29/otomate-party-2019-roundup/#commentsSat, 29 Jun 2019 11:16:06 +0000http://yankeebanchou.wordpress.com/?p=40419Here is my totally on time, on the exact day of Otomate Party happening report… but three weeks late.

I have to apologise for not writing this up immediately, I’m sure there are other blogs out there that have published their Otomate Party report (and probably have done a better job than me) but I promised myself to always make a roundup post of what was announced at Otomate Party… so here I am.

Otomate Party happened earlier than usual (the past three years covering it they usually hold it around August or September) on June 1st and June 2nd. For those unfamiliar with Otomate Party, it’s basically E3 but for one otome game making company. This year they’ve announced release dates for both 2019 and 2020.

As per usual, before getting into the meat of things, let’s run down on which games were delivered/released or any updates since being announced at Otomate Party 2018.

✓Clock Zero ~Shueen no Ichibyou~ Devote – When announced it was scheduled for a 2019 release. Was released on 27th June, 2019.

✓ ? Gensoukissa Enchanté – When announced it was scheduled for a 2019 release. Expected to release on 10th October, 2019.

✓Diabolik Lovers Chaos Lineage – When announced it was scheduled for a 2019 release. Was released on 28th March, 2019.

✓Cafe and Bar Dante’s Peak – Not a game, just a vtubber project. Started around the later few months of 2018. Still going on today though not quite popular.

✘Untitled Game (in collab with Watanane Entertainment and Yuki Iwai (Haraichi) – Still no word on this game, or at least I have no known info about it.

✘Hynosis Mic -Division Rap Battle- Game – Has a new name “Hypnosis Mic -Alternative Rap Battle-“, was set to release in 2019 but no release date so far for the mobile game, new characters have been introduced.

✓Private Academy VerRose ~The Rose of Versailles Re*Imagination~ – When announced it was scheduled for a 2019 release. Was released on 23rd May, 2019.

✓? Hakuouki Shinkai Tsukikage no Shou / ✘Hakuouki Shinkai Ginsei no Shou – When announced it was scheduled for a 2019 release. One of the games (Tsukikage no Shou) is set to release 26th September, 2019. However the other game is set for 2020.

✓Hakuouki Shinkai Fuukaden – When announced it was scheduled for a 2018 release. Was released on 6th June, 2018.

✓Code:Realize ~Saikou no Hanataba~ – When announced it was scheduled for a 2019 release. Was released on 13th June, 2018.

✓Nil Admirari no Tenbin – Irodori Nadeshiko – When announced it was scheduled for a 2018 release. Was released on 20th September, 2018.

✓Cendrillon palikA – When announced it was scheduled for a 2018 release. Was released on 25th October, 2018.

✓Norn9 LOFN – When announced there was no set release date. Was released on 27th September, 2018.

✓? Amnesia for Nintendo Switch – Was marked as TBA. Was given a release date in this years Otomate party for 12th of September, 2019.

✓Reine des fleurs – When announced there was no set release date. Was released on 25th April, 2019.

✘Sengoku Night Blood – Was marked as TBA. Still no new information.

Otomate’s track record this year for delivering on time is okay, though the no new information for Sengoku Night Blood port, LoverPretend and that untitled game no one asked for is a little concerning.

Announcements

Some information may be inaccurate so take what I say with a grain of salt.

幻奏喫茶アンシャンテ

(Gensoukissa Enchanté)

You inherit your grandfather’s cafe, as said in his will. However upon your arrival at the cafe you find out that the customers are all from another world?!

You know I’m a sucker for monster boyos so this tickles my fancy. The cast includes a demon lord, a headless knight, a fallen angel and some fire cat dude (plus an ossan who is working for government in area 51 the Paranormal Measures Agency). Though I would have to say I’m a bit disappointed when the only closest “monster” looking guy is the headless knight. C’mon Otomate you can do better.

I hope this will turn out to be great and doesn’t bore me like the recent otome games I’ve played. Though maybe I shouldn’t keep my hopes high.

‹ Seiyuu Cast ›

Kenji Akabane

Yuichiro Umehara

Kaito Ishikawa

Yuki Ono

Junichi Suwabe

ビルシャナ戦姫 ～源平飛花夢想～

(Bilshana Senki ~Genpei Hikamusou~)

Release Date: 2020

Set during the Genpei War, a conflict between two clans–the Taira and the Minamoto. The heroine is part of the Minamoto clan and was raised up to be a boy, taking up the name “Yoshitsune”.

Not a lot of new information this time except for the voice cast and set release date for 2020.

‹ Seiyuu Cast ›

Makoto Furukawa

Jun Fukuyama

Kengo Kawanishi

Yuichiro Umehara

Soma Saito

キューピッド・パラサイト

(Cupid Parasite)

Release Date: 2020

A story about a cupid who ran away from her family after a fight to become the most successful bridal adviser in the human world. One day the heroine’s boss calls her up for a job to find 5 hopeless guys (aka parasites) in desperate need of fixing their love life (and prolly their personalities in some cases).

The promo video noted that the staff behind Jakou no Lyla is aiming to make a cute, happy and absurd love comedy. Checking out the credentials, the scenario writer is indeed Ririka Yoshimura who did the scenario for Glass Heart Princess, Ken ga Kimi and Jakou no Lyla. So mayhaps this might be worth it?

Some people likened it to Variable Barricade in terms of the ダメな男 theme going on with the guys. I guess dating terrible guys is a trend nowadays (jk). I’m slightly looking forward to this one, though there’s no confirmation on who is the illustrator/artist and what the artwork looks like, but it’d be fun to see what the characters are like, especially the heroine. I’d like to think she’s a bit funny but also a very successful career lady who’s serious about her work.

‹ No Seiyuus Listed Yet ›

ピオフィオーレの晩鐘 -Episodio1926-

(Piofiore no Banshou -Episodio1926-)

Release Date: TBA

A sequel(?) for Piofiore no Banshou. I have a feeling it might also be a continuation of the happy end for each guy? Unless they do a Kenka Banchou Otome 2 thing and wipe the slate clean for every guy’s feelings for the heroine in the first game and do it all over again in the sequel.

Also it seems like there might be a new character, the person narrating the promo video. Perhaps a villain? Or maybe some other dude.

Also stage play will happen starting October, 2019. Seems like this series (franchise) is deemed successful (milkable) in Otomate’s eyes.

‹ Seiyuu Cast ›

Kaito Ishikawa

Showtaro Morikubo

Nobuhiko Okamoto

Ryohei Kimura

Toshiyuki Toyonaga

Shinnosuke Tachibana

DAIROKU: AYAKASHIMORI

Release Date: 2020

You work within a department controlled by the government responsible for taking on special jobs to control and manage “yokai” beings since ancient times…

Yep another yokai game, then again it’s been a while since I’ve seen a big cast mostly comprised of yokai. To list down the yokai dudes: an oni, a kitsune, a tengu, a snake boi.

Character designs and illustration by Suou. No word on scenario writer but director is Riku Yukizawa who worked with Otomate with one of the drama CD series (as a director). Sure hope this doesn’t become Bad Apple Wars 2.0 in terms of story and heroine

‹ Seiyuu Cast ›

Toshiyuki Toyonaga

Tatsuhisa Suzuki

Takahiro Sakurai

Yusuke Kobayashi

Ryota Osaka

CollarxMalice for Nintendo Switch

+ Other releated news

Release Date: 2020

CollarxMalice is coming to the switch but not only that, it’ll be a 2-in-1 game where you get both the original CollarxMalice and the fandisc–CollarxMalice -Unlimited-. Just to kick everyone in their wallets after buying the two games separately on the PS Vita.

In other news, stage play for CollarxMalice will be in Spring 2020. There was also news about “CollarxMalice anime”, though the video above didn’t mention anything like that nor did the Otomate twitter account or the CollarxMalice account (or so far I haven’t seen evidence). It’d be nice if true or at least it’d be nice if Otomate blasted out the news about it louder so for now I’ll just be confused about whether or not it’ll happen (this doesn’t exactly mean it’s not happening, I’m just sceptical for now).

‹ Seiyuu Cast ›

Soma Saito

Yuki Kaji

Daisuke Namikawa

Ryohei Kimura

Masakazu Morita

セフィロト～時の世界樹～

(Sephirot ~Toki no Sekaiju~)

After releasing back in 2013, Sephirot–Otomate’s mobile game that lets you collect cards of all the Otomate boyos (basically what Library Cross was attempting to do)–will be celebrating 7 years of existing. They will be celebrating with 7 gifts, the main gift being a mobile game renewal. They will also start rolling out new “Sephirot” original characters into the game in 2019. They’ll also be doing a hakuouki collab event (because that’s what gets all the ladies drooling out their money).

ヒプノシスマイク-A.R.B-

Hypnosis Mic -A.R.B-

Announcement video that there will be new songs for the mobile game and just to hype the audience by saying it’ll be a good mobile game.

I’m unsure when the game is going to release, there’s still a chance for a 2019 release but I dunno

‹ Seiyuu Cast ›

Subaru Kimura

Haruki Ishiya

Kouhei Amasaki

Shintaro Asanuma

Wataru Komada

Shinichiro Kamio

Sho Hayami

Ryuichi Kijima

Kento Ito

Yusuke Shirai

Soma Saito

Yukihiro Nozuyama

時計仕掛けのアポカリプス

(Tokeijikake no Apocalypse)

Release Date: TBA

This is a story that starts off from the bad end.

Where you obtain the “box of fate”–

Though I wrote down there are no seiyuus listed yet I’m 100% sure Megumi Ogata will be playing a role (especially when the promo video has her down as “Main song vocals”.

Scenario is done by Uta Amemiya who’s previous work was mainly scenario assistance with their big role being the scenario writer for Charade Maniacs (interpret that grain of knowledge however you’d like).

‹ No Seiyuus Listed Yet ›

Amnesia for Nintendo Switch

+

Amnesia LATERxCROWD for Nintendo Switch

As you all know Amnesia is getting a port for the Switch but what’s big news is that a port that has both Amnesia’s fandiscs “LATER” and “CROWD” is being combined into one game for the Nintendo Switch. Seems like Otomate is going to port all of the games to the Switch (cross your fingers Amnesia World will be next).

明治活劇 ハイカラ流星組 －成敗しませう、世直し稼業－

Set in Meiji. There once was a theatrical troupe that would wash away the darkness within people’s hearts. People would call them the “Haikara Ryusei Troupe”.

The title really is a mouthful huh. This is another game in collaboration between Otomate and Ichi Column. The scenario writer/director for the Hanayaka Nari, Waga Ichizoku series, Bara ni Kakusareshi Verite and Tengai ni Mau, Iki na Hana will also be in charge of this game.

Interestingly enough the character design and illustration is by Karin Suzushiro who has done work for Cendrillon palikA (I’m guessing Yuuya is too busy with the other Otomate game that Ichi Column can’t have their usual go-to artist). Either they’re doing a new coloring technique or there’s a separate artist doing the coloring for the lineart Either way I really love the vibrancy of the art.

This looks interesting so hopefully it has one of Ichi Column trademark of 3D chibi sprite overworld mini-game lol.

‹ No Seiyuus Listed Yet ›

オランピアソワレ

(Olympia Soiree)

Release Date: TBA

A long time ago, a God without a form split its energy ball into two pieces and made man and woman.

Since then, people have been born without their other half and are destined to seek out their other half.

Therefore when a person meets their other half it they become overcome with love that it’s is impossible to separate them.

The other half of the white girl’s soul yearns for is—

No denying that this game is aesthetically pleasing, though I dunno if it’d be great story wise after what I heard about Nil Admirari (and my impressions from watching the anime made me go ), considering this game is by the same team.

For those who didn’t see the first promo video last year, the gist of the story is that there’s a mythology to the people in this setting where each person is born/assigned a colour and there is a rare occurrence that someone will be born with “white” as their colour–which turns out to be our heroine is the rare white girl. In order to make sure that the rare colour is wiped out she has to find her mate when she turns 18. Seems like this new video gave more mythology/lore to the series with the soul thing and finding your other half (which is an IRL lore/myth).

Anyway it could be good if it doesn’t have weird ass writing in it (though for sure this might get a Cero D warning bc the writer will prolly put in a lot of behind-the-scenes sexy times).

‹ Seiyuu Cast ›

Yoshitsugu Matsuoka

Yuto Uemura

Shun Horie

Tomokazu Sugita

Nobunaga Shimazaki

Yuma Uchida

スペードの国のアリス

(Spade no Kuni no Alice)

& QuinRose Reborn News

Release Date: TBA

QUINROSE IS BACK BABBEEEYYYYY. Just kidding the company is still bankrupt, however it seems like Otomate is bringing the brand back like a phoenix with “QuinRose Reborn for otomate”.

It seems like Spade no Kuni no Alice will be QuinRose reborn’s first title to be made under Otomate, though it won’t be the last (I’m assuming).

Spade no Kuni no Alice will be split into two games: “Spade no Kuni no Alice ~Wonderful White World~” and “Spade no Kuni no Alice ~Wonderful Black World~”. Basically Otomate is getting into a Pokemon mood by splitting their games in two to romance boyos between two games so you have to catch ’em all.

People have some mixed feelings about this (especially people pointing out where the hell is the bunny boy Peter White?) as well as Mamenosuke Fujimaru’s artwork looking a tad bit different compared to the other games in the series. I guess we’ll have to wait and see how this pans out.

‹ No Seiyuus Listed Yet ›

薄桜鬼 真改 月影ノ抄

(Hakuouki Shinkai Tsukikage no Shou)

Speaking of splitting your games for maximum profit, here’s another Hakuouki game. Though this video is just an opening song video and not a promo video. These new Hakuouki games are fandiscs but also split into two because the cast has grown to ridiculously huge levels that I guess they can’t fit it all in one cartridge *coughLOOKATDIABOLIKLOVERSGAMEONETHESWITCHcough*, but hey we gotta milk it for what it’s worth. The second part of the game will release in 2020, gotta give it more time in the oven.

triAngle PROJECT for Nintendo Switch

It was announced a couple of months back that the triAngle PROJECT games were being ported to the Switch so this isn’t new news. Hell, this video wasn’t even uploaded on the same day as the other games announced for Otomate Party but felt like adding it in this post considering it was “shown” at Otomate Party.

Either way maybe I’ll buy Jakou no Lyla on the Switch bc I’m too embarrassed playing it on my computer where anyone can catch me looking at half naked guys.

‹ Seiyuu Cast ›

Tlicolity Eyes

Katakoi Contrast

Jakou no Lyla

Yuki Ono

Takashi Kondo

Ayumu Murase

Yuichiro Umehara

Satoshi Hino

Toshiyuki Morikawa

Tomoaki Maeno

Masakazu Morita

Takuya Satou

Yoshitsugu Matsuoka

Kosuke Toriumi

Kazuyuki Okitsu

Ryohei Kimura

Yoshino Hiroyuki

Shinnosuke Tachibana

Tetsuya Kakihara

Hikari Midorikawa

Kisho Taniyama

Final Thoughts

I guess now I’m given more reason to throw out the PS Vita + PC games I bought from Otomate now that they’re all having Nintendo Switch ports… Seriously Otomate is too quick on porting their new PS Vita games than looking back on their classic games on the PSP.

I have a few new favourites from the Otomate Party announcements so I’m looking forward to them… but gosh I hope they’re good.